Page 17 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“Shit. You'd better get going then. You still have a key, right?”

“Of course I do. But aren’t you going home right now?” I ask as I pull on my jacket.

“Nah. Veronica was giving me those eyes when I came in today. Fuck. I swear that woman knows how to suck a man’s soul out of his dick. You know?”

“No, actually, I don’t,” I groan as I roll my eyes. I’ve never touched Veronica.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. She doesn’t fit your qualifications.” He fucking air quotes the word, and I swear to God I’m going to hit him.

“What can I say, I have standards,” I laugh with a shrug.

“Hey. Don’t talk about her like that. Who knows? She could be my future Mrs. Anderson someday. My future bride.”

He adjusts his tie that’s been hanging loosely around his neck, then laughs like a fucking hyena. I love my cousin, but sometimes even he’s too much. Jeremy doesn’t know exactly what I do with my spare time, but he accepts my privacy and still loves me despite my obvious issues.

Jeremy understands me because he has his own demons. His just aren’t like mine. He’s friends with his inner demons and keeps them sated with women and partying. His are easy to appease. Mine only crave one thing…Her.

“Well, have fun tonight. At least I already have a good description of the woman in case you disappear.”

He stands and heads toward the door. He stops and slings his jacket over his shoulder before turning back to me.

“Seriously though, Cuz, I worry about you sometimes. These women…Maybe you should look for one that doesn’t fit your little list. You might find someone who actually stays.”

My lips tilt in a smile I’m trying so hard to hold back. I don’t need to look for any other woman. The one that I’ve been searching all these years for just walked back into my life, and this time she won’t get away.

CHAPTER 9

WILLOW

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Willow, would you chill the fuck out?”

“I just stabbed my eye with the fucking mascara wand,” I groan as I try to open my eye to see the damage.

Black mascara is on my eye, like my actual fucking eye. It burns as I rapidly try to blink it away. Tears build and fall, causing my eyeliner to smudge and run down my cheeks.

“Hold on. Let me help,” Jenna scolds as she tries to dab my face with a tissue.

“It’s no use. I need to wipe it all off and restart.”

“No, you don’t. You can just do a smudged look. Darker with a smoky eye shadow. It’ll look hot.”

“But…that’s not…” I stop.

The pain in my eye is finally going away. The tears have stopped falling, and I only mildly look like a raccoon.

“Not what, babe?”

“I never do my makeup like that.”

I’ve always done my makeup simple, restrained, and unnoticeable. I’ve always tried to blend seamlessly into a crowd and not bring attention to myself. She’s the striking one with the dark, bold makeup that screams confidence. Me? I’d rather go without any makeup, but if I don’t at least semi-line my eyes, I look exhausted.

“Well…you also haven’t dated anyone in a long ass time. You haven’t had sex in…”

“Please stop.”

“Sorry. I’m just saying, maybe it’s time you shake things up. You don’t have to go with a look that’s as dramatic as mine, but something in between.”